


There Has Never Been a Sadness That Can't Be Cured by Breakfast Food

by heisenfox



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 20:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14859705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heisenfox/pseuds/heisenfox
Summary: Peter, struggling to move on with life after Thanos, is sent to brunch with Pepper and Tony in the hopes that he'll open up to them in a way he can't seem to manage with Aunt May.





	There Has Never Been a Sadness That Can't Be Cured by Breakfast Food

**Author's Note:**

> this is a prize fic for [@k_lynn_robinson](http://twitter.com/k_lynn_robinson) over on twitter, who won a giveaway on my Incorrect Clint Barton account, [@awwwclintno](http://twitter.com/awwwclintno).

After everything that happened....Peter really just wanted some sense of normalcy. For a while, that meant hanging up the suit and just curling up on the couch with Aunt May every night to watch her soapy late-night shows. He talked to Mr. Stark on the phone every day, though, and went to school like a normal teenager; he spent his weekends with Ned, and sometimes MJ, and tried to forget what dying had felt like. It wasn’t long before he realized he couldn’t, and, well…Aunt May actually figured it out first. Peter didn’t even know she had until she dropped him off at the Avengers Tower — which, apparently that was a thing again — with explicit instructions that he was not to return home until after dinner, and that Mr. Hogan would be driving him home.

Peter cautiously walked through the door, and was greeted by a voice that sounded achingly familiar; with a jolt, he realized it sounded like Vision, who was one of the few they hadn’t been able to save. The disembodied voice introduced itself — himself? — as J.A.R.V.I.S., and Peter let out a small gasp. Everyone knew of J.A.R.V.I.S., but by the time Peter met Mr. Stark, he had moved onto F.R.I.D.A.Y. for obvious and painful reasons. Peter supposed that by retaining J.A.R.V.I.S., it was kind of like they still had a piece of Vis.

Following J.A.R.V.I.S.’s instructions, Peter headed to the elevator and let it whisk him away to a common floor; the doors opened right into the kitchen, where Mr. Stark sat atop a counter chugging coffee right from the pot as Miss Potts was practically dancing through the room, seemingly cooking ten things at once.

As soon as Peter stepped into the room, Tony hopped off the counter and threw an arm around his shoulders. “Welcome, young spider, to Brunch a la Potts. It’s life-changing, I assure you.”

Pepper smiled at Peter and he flushed a little at the force of it; he barely knew Miss Potts, but something in the way she always greeted him with that wide grin and a sincere “It’s so nice to see you again, Peter” felt…well, motherly. It tugged at something in the back of his memory that felt warm and safe and good.

“How can I help?” he asked as soon as he found his voice. Pepper’s smile widened, if that were even possible, and handed him an apron, pointing him toward the potatoes and eggs cooking on the stove. If Pepper had looked graceful maneuvering through the kitchen alone, it was pure ballet watching her and Peter weave around each other as they worked on their respective tasks. Tony had hopped back on the counter and was more than happy to watch, whispering to J.A.R.V.I.S. to throw a little music on, and the morning went by in a flurry of movement, happy-if-silent laughter, and the dulcet tones of Frank Sinatra.

Once all the food was done, the three of them juggled the dishes and carefully laid the table; though there was enough food to feed the team in triplicate, Peter quickly realized it would just be them for the meal. Strangely, he was okay with this; Miss Potts asked him about school, and was genuinely interested in everything he had to say. Tony pestered him about Decathlon, insisting that he, Pepper, and Happy would attend the next one Peter competed in, and they would bring Aunt May along too. They ate slowly, talked a ton, and laughed even more; by the time the meal was finished, Peter felt lighter than he had since before Thanos. Since before he became Spider-Man, if he really thought about it.

When he finally left that night, after dinner, Pepper gently folded him into her arms, holding him with a firmness and strength he never would have pictured coming from the petite woman. “Please, come by any time Peter,” she said as she let him go. She smiled at him one last time and walked away, letting Tony talk to him alone before shuffling him off with Happy.

Tony hesitated before pulling Peter into a bone-crushing hug, and Peter hugged him back with as much force — if not more. “Seriously, kid,” Tony said, letting Peter go, save for an arm around his shoulders, “come by more often. We miss you around here. _You_ , not Spider-Man. We couldn’t care less if you never put the suit on again. It was _you_ that we wanted to save.”

When Peter kisses Aunt May on the cheek on his way to bed that night, she can tell something has changed in her nephew, and she makes a mental note to thank Tony and Pepper the next time they speak.

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd, mistakes are my own
> 
> title from the wisdom of one Ron Ulysses Swanson


End file.
